How winning World War II depends on successful labor-management collaboration.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: U.S. Army, Signal Corps
Sponsor: U.S. Army
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: World War II: Homefront; Labor: 1940s

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Spuzz - - July 21, 2003
Subject: And we know which arm that is.
Sensational propaganda film which ultimately is about how important industry is to the war, but winds up just being one hell of a propaganda film. Fueled by one heck of a bombastic narrator who must've taken courses in guilt mongering, we're plastered with images of Pearl Harbor! China! France! Norway! All of this is tied very loosely with the industrial theme, but again, this is a mightily trumped up propaganda machine working here folks.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - July 8, 2003
Subject: The Arm Behind the Army
The "arm behind the army" is Industry! Working to make the world safe for democracy! This is the quintessential WWII industrial incentive film. Stirring narration and rousing music tell the story of how workers in Allied nations are playing a vital role in winning the war, which will free the enslaved workers of Axis nations. The pro-worker line is a tad bit hypocritical when you consider how "pro-worker" American business was before the war. Still, even that was a lot better than the way the Axis was treating its workers, which was little better than, and sometimes not better than slave labor. An interesting bit of probably effective wartime propaganda.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.

Shotlist

"The success of the Army on the firing line depends upon the success of labor and industry on the production line. And the security of American industry and labor depends upon the success of the American Army. An Axis victory means the enslavement of both labor and industry. The film shows what happened in Vienna, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Holland, and France: cities destroyed, industry taken over by the Nazis, labor conscripted, men, women, and children subjected to terror and starvation. The Axis has tremendous resources, but so have the Allies -- they have the mills of Krupp, we have the mills of Birmingham; they have the Rumanian oil, we have the oil of Oklahoma, Texas, and California. This war is industry's war, labor's war to outproduce the Axis. From the production line to the firing line must come tanks and planes and guns for victory." (Indiana)

"This is one of the best films on the war effort, as it makes a positive appeal for unity, both between management and labor, and between civilian war workers and the armed forces. There is an artistic quality in the rhythm and contrasts of the images. Suitable for a variety of applications in school and community." (School Management)

Contrasts America's Free Industrial Labor Force with the subjugation of laborers in countries overtaken by Axis powers. Stresses the fact that World War II is the war of industry and labor.


Ken Smith notes: Could this be a film about physical training? No, it's a film designed to whip American World War II workers into a productive frenzy. With ultrapatriotic rhetoric, a peppy score and fast-paced editing, this film praises those who "find their front lines on the assembly lines." "It will be the sweat of workers that tips the beam!" the narrator cries. "Together, we will smash ahead to victory!" Definitely a cut above the usual Signal Corps product.


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